Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The inevitable time-waster: All Hands Meetings...

I had to attend a meeting that was a complete waste of my time and energy last night. Two and a half hours to go over information that could have been covered in 30 minutes or less. There were (in my opinion) utterly pointless "team building" exercises which did little except to make me frustrated with a coworker that I generally like. Forcing people who can't write to try and write haiku in groups, never a good option. There was middling-to-poor pizza that apparently didn't take into account that we have two vegans on staff. There was salad but it didn't even look appetizing and don't get me started on the cupcakes.

Mostly I sat staring blankly wondering why they were wasting my time this way. Considering I had also to add a two hour commute to this evening meeting on my day off and it was a day that I should have been at home designing--the meeting (for which I earned less than $20 dollars attending) cost me anywhere between $100-$200 of my time (depending on which of my clients I'm working for).

So for bad pizza and people avoiding the questions that really need to be asked...I lost at least $75 dollars. Hmmmm

So here are my questions:Why is remuneration for our division of staff so poor? It leads to greater turnover.Why do they retain shoddy staff members and cater to them?Why wasn't the appropriate person promoted after her boss left?Were you planning on replacing that boss or were we just supposed to "get by" indefinitely?When you under staff, why do you talk about the desperation of the staff to get things done as quickly as possible so there is five minutes to breathe before the next onslaught?Why isn't the dedication of staff members who have been there for years recognized and honored?Why are people allowed to smoke in the "staff" jackets?

But alas, I am not in a position where I feel like I can ask these questions. Perhaps, when I start my library job, I will feel "empowered enough" to hand these questions to my immediate supervisor with my suggestions and thoughts. She, unfortunately, probably can't do much because they're making her life as miserable as they are everyone else's.